Plant Patent Paranoia
Leonard N. Bloksberg
bloksber at pilot.msu.edu
Mon Oct 25 16:58:00 EST 1993
In Article <01H4F8ZO292A8WW2LY at PEARL.TUFTS.EDU> "GELLMORE at PEARL.TUFTS.EDU (BIOHEAD)" says:
> A colleague of mine has recieved a request for her to send a chitinase
> gene to a lab working on insect resistance in cotton. She smells a patent, and
> has asked me if there is precedence for basic (academic) researchers having
> genes they've isolated being used in transgenic plants which have gone on
> to be patented for potential profit, without any provisions being made for
> that academic researcher.
> I have not heard of such problems in the plant field, but netters that
> know better are implored to educate me, perhaps saving my colleague
> some problems too.
> Tufts Biology
> Medford, MA
Most universities have very competent legal staffs for just this kind of
thing. Since a large part of your overhead is paying their salary, why not
take advantage of them. At the very least, they could write you up a nice
contract that would facilitate scholarly research while preserving the
rights of your friend and the university to a share of any potential patents.
. Good Luck
. Leonard N. Bloksberg
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